Method of fitting a golf club shaft to a head

ABSTRACT

A golf club shaft has a head end consisting of a cylinder of substantially constant wall thickness. This end of the shaft is to be connected to the socket of a conventional golf club head and in order to match the shaft with a selected golf club head a portion of the cylinder is severed. The shaft is thus matched in length and flexibility characteristics to the selected golf club head. A matched set of shafts may be provided by selecting a plurality of initially identical shafts and severing selected amounts from the shafts.

United States Patent Letters 1451 I Aug. 22, 1972 METHOD OF FITTING AGOLF CLUB 2,250,441 7/ 1941 Vickery ..273/80 B SHAFT TO A HEAD 2,250,4287/ 1941 Vickery ..273/80 B [72] Inventor: Hope Lowrie Letters, Eastbothian 2,991,080 7/1961 Redmond ..273/80 B Scotland FOREIGN PATENTS ORAPPLICATIONS [73] Assignee: Sayers East Labia, 455,617 4/1949 Canada..273/s0 B ScOfland 256,049 8/1926 Great Britain ..273/s0 R [22] Filed:Feb. 9, 1970 442,557 2/1936 Great Britain ..273/80 B [21] Appl' 9876Primary Examiner-John F. Campbell v Assistant Examiner-Donald P. Rooney[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Att0rneyYoung & Thompson March 4,1969 Great Britain ..1 1,385/69 l 57] ABSTRACT UOSI Cl- A club shaft hasa end consisting of a 273/80 B, 273/80 273/80 C cylinder ofsubstantially constant wall thickness. This Clend of the shaft is to beco'nnected to the ocket of a [58] new of Search "273/80 80 80 Crconventional golf club head and in order to match the 273/802 803;29/400"445* 428 shaft with'a selected golf club head a portion of thecylinder is severed. The shaft is thus matched in length [56] Referencesand flexibility characteristics to the selected golf club UNITED STATESPATENTS head. A matchedset of -s hafts mayhe provided by selecting aplurality of initially identical shafts and R19,731 10/ 1935 Hackett..273/80 B severing Selected amounts from the shafts 2,037,636 4/1936Lagerblade ..273/80 B 2,100,307 11/1937 McMinn ..273/80 B 1 Claim, 2Drawing Figures METHOD OF FITTING A GOLF CLUB SHAFT TO A This inventionrelates to golf clubs and more particularly to shafts for golf clubs.

Hitherto in the manufacture of golf clubs it has been found necessary tomanufacture for each club head a range of shafts ofdiffering'flexibilities, resilience or whip, the shafts for any one clubhead being of one length and tapered from one end to the other. Theseshafts are individually cold-drawn through a series of dies arranged inspaced-apart relationship, each die being variable in size so that theresultant shaft consists of a plurality of hollow tapered sections ofcircular cross-section.

Since the known shaft is tapered along its length one end isthick-walled and small in diameter whereas the other end is relativelythin-walled and large in diameter and the contribution of each shaftsection to the flexi-- bility of the shaft varies inversely with thediameterof the section. Thus, the section of smallest diameter, which isthe section fitted to the club head, contributes the greatest proportionof the shafts flexibility, and is usually referred to as the whip zoneof the shaft.

Each shaft manufactured in the range for any one club head has the whipzone so proportioned during manufacturing as to impart a particularcharacteristic to the shaft. It is, therefore, usual for any adjustmentto the length of the shaft to be made at the end of the shaft remotefrom the whip zone, because if the whip zone were shortened thecharacteristic of theshaft would be altered, and the diameter of the endof the shaft would be increased which could lead to difficulty infitting the shaft to the socket of the club head.

It will be understood that a set of shafts consists of shafts which arematched in flexibility but which are of differing lengths so as to bematched to the requirements of club heads having differing amounts ofloft carried out during manufacturing of the shaft.

It is a disadvantage of the above shaft that golf club manufacturersrequire to maintain an extensive stock of each shaft in the range forany specified club head, so that the total stock of shafts required fora range of differing club heads maybe in the range 2 5 million.

It is an object of the present invention to obviate or mitigate theabove disadvantages.

According to the present invention there is provided a shaft for a golfclub, said shaft having a plurality of hollow sections of which at leastone constitutes a hollow whip zone adapted for connection to a golf clubhead, and wherein said whip zone is in the form of a cylinder.

Further according to the present invention there is provided a method offitting a shaft to a golf club head including the steps of selecting ashaft according to the last preceding paragraph, shortening the shaft bya selected amount by severing part of said cylinder, mounting theshortened shaft with the whip zone in the socket of the club head, andsecuring the shaft thereto.

An embodiment of the present invention will now be described, by way ofexample with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 shows a cross-sectional view of part of a shaft for a golf club;and

FIG. 2 shows the shaft fitted to a golf club head.

In the drawings a shaft for a golf club has a plurality of sections 10A,108 etc., only two of which are an epoxy resin or by-inserting a pin,grub or screw, or-

rivet 14 through the socket 13 and the section 10A diametrically withrespect to the shaft 10. The pin may also be used in addition to theadhesive.

To assemble a set of golf clubs wherein the club heads are metallic, saynine in number, and graded in loft according to normal practice, nineidentical shafts according to the present invention are selectedandthese are shortened by removing a selected amount from the cylindricalwhip zone of the shaft in order to produce a set of shafts graded'inlength and in flexibility. The respective clubheads and shafts arethereafterfitted and bonded together.

In order to manufacture the shaft according to the present invention aplurality of dies are arranged in spaced-apart relationship, the diesbeing of different 1 sizes and all but the smallest die being variablein aperture or size. The shaft is cold-drawn through the dies and thedie of fixed size produces the whip zone which is of constant diameterand constant wall thickness, in comparison to the sections produced bythe other dies, which sections are tapered and of variablewallthickness.

By virtue of the above-described embodiment only one shaft is requiredfor a complete set of golf clubs so that the stock maintained by theclub manufacturer may be greatly diminished. Alternatively, themanufacturer may wish to stock two shafts, each according to the presentinvention, but one shaft being of a suitable length for wooden clubheads and the other for metallic club heads. Yet a further alternativewould be to have a third shaft according to the present invention butsuitable in length only for a putter.

Various modifications may be made, for example the whip zone may includetwo or more sections which are cylindrical but of differing diameters orthe shaft may consist entirely of cylindrical sections of differentdiameters, or alternatively, the shaft may consist of only two sections,the whip zone which is cylindrical and a single tapered section.

It will be understood that a set of golf clubs may consist of any numberof clubs (for example fourteen) and the club heads may be made of anysuitable material such as stainless steel, plastics materials, aluminumor wood.

What is claimed is:

1. A method of fitting a golf club shaft to a selected golf club head,including the steps of selecting a shaft having a head end whichterminates in a hollow cylinder of substantially constant diameterthroughout the length of said cylinder and constant wall thicknessthroughout the length of said cylinder, matching the shaft in length andflexibility characteristics to the selected golf club head by severingpart of the end of said cylinder, mounting in the socket of the clubhead the end of the shortened shaft from which said part has beensevered and securing the shaft thereto to provide a club of desiredlength and flexibility characteristics.

1. A method of fitting a golf club shaft to a selected golf club head,including the steps of selecting a shaft having a head end whichterminates in a hollow cylinder of substantially constant diameterthroughout the length of said cylinder and constant wall thicknessthroughout the length of said cylinder, matching the shaft in length andflexibility characteristics to the selected golf club head by severingpart of the end of said cylinder, mounting in the socket of the clubhead the end of the shortened shaft from wHich said part has beensevered and securing the shaft thereto to provide a club of desiredlength and flexibility characteristics.